Gear and clutch mechanism



Dec'25, 1928. 1,696,179

c. E. F. AHLM femm` AND cLTcH MEGHANISM 'Original Filed March 14, 1925 Ik 'j /2 /2 /55/5 /7 Wb iL-' 77 y 3mm MEQ@ as f .A v 'ffmZ/MMWW www@ 1 'Patented Dec. 2 5, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT ioFFlcE.

CHARLES E. F. AHIM, F CLEVELAND,l OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO 'AUTOMOTIVE PATENT HOLD- ING COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

GEAR am) cLU'reH MEeHANIsni.

originai application inea March 14, msi-serial No. 15,480. vDivided and this application inea February 21 1927.

To providecooperating set-s of staggeredl teeth in gears and clutches is known tothe prior art. The particular improvement herein claimed relates to a more simplified and more economically manufactured form of dent-al clutch coupling, having the advan:

tage over the ordinary dental clutch of being Serial No. 169,728.

fspaced apart circumferentially wider than 55 easily operated as in changing the speed rela- Y tions between the driving and driven members of a transmission gearing. A further advantage of my arrangement is that it considerably facilitates the assembly of the clutch into a mechanism such as a transmis sion gearing. .l

In carrying outthe invention, I use a clutch sleeve having two longitudinally spaced sets of internal teeth substantially identical in contour and yformed. on equal diameters. One set en ages external teeth of one of the rotatable e ements to be connected as a spline, and the other set engages and disengages ex ya5 ternal teeth on another element. The teeth nals engage and disengage, are long and short in effect;` that is to say, some of the external teeth of a given set extend longitudinally past others ofthe same` set. The cooperating internal teeth on the sleeve have this eil'ect of staggered teeth, so far as relates to easy engagement at considerable relative speed, by reason of the fact that the internal teeth are vthe external teeth with which they are to en gage. .The above results in that no expensive milling operation has to4 be performed in making the-sleeve, such as milling 0E the ends of some ofthe teeth as is necessary with 50 the externals, in order to obtain the staggered tooth effect.

One use of my invention is illustrated in my co-pending application, Serial No. 15,480 filed March 14th, 1925, of which the present 55 applicationfis a division. In the drawings Fig. 1 is a fragmentarycentral longitudinal sectional'view showing some of the parts of a one speed cha-nge transmission gearlng such as shown in my said prior application, the clutch and portions of the gears being shown; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view of two cooperating clutch elements embodying my invention, portions of each elementr being broken away for clearness of illustration; Fig. 3 is 75 a fragmentary transverse sectional view through the cooperating clutch elements as indicated by the line 3-3 on Fig. 1.

Referring in 'detail to the drawing, 1 indicates a gearing casingin which is mounted a 30 driving shaft 2 and a driven shaft 3, the driving shaft having -suitable connections (not shown to an engine shaft and the the driven shaft eing adapted for .connection to the propeller shaft of an automobile. `Such a gearing is suitable for` ailordin'g a single extra speed for each speed delivered by a 'main transmission positionedl between the shaft 2 and the engine. The gearing ma comprise externalfgearteeth P on the sha t v 2 meshing with internal teeth P1 on an 'eccentrically' positioned compound gear' 5, this gear having external teeth P2 meshing with internal teeth P3 on a hollow gear 6 surrounding the shaft 2 and suitably supported 95 in bearings 7. l

The clutch mechanism forming the subject o f this invention is arranged to connect the shaft 3 selectively to the shaft 2 and gear member 6. .To ,this end an enlargement of 1 00 the member 3 is provided with external spline teeth at 10, permanently engaging internal spline teeth 11 onone'end of the sleeve clutch member 12. The-s1eeve has internal teeth 13 at the otherend, arranged to engage ex- 105` ternalteeth 15 rigid with-the shaft 2 and similarly formed external teeth 17 rigid with the gear member 6.` When the sleeve is in teeth 13 into engagement with' the teeth 17 on the gear, the shaft 3 is driven from the shaft 2 at a reduced speed through the gearing P-P1-P2--P3.

The external teeth 15 and 17 are uniformly spaced like the teeth of a gear and the two sets are longitudinally separated as shown in Fig. 1, to provide a neutral position for the teeth 13, that is to say, to provide for entirely disconnecting one shaft from the other. The teeth 15 and 17 are alternately long and short as shown in Fig. 2, the teeth 17"?l extending further toward the teeth 15 than the teeth 17". I use the expression long and shortf simply for convenience to designate the staggered relation of the engaging ends of the teeth. This long and short tooth effect may be easily obtained with reference to external teeth by well known 4milling operations As shown every other tooth is long and the intermediate teeth short. The effect of stag ered teeth is had with ieference to the intern teeth 13, without having to end mill some of the teeth which would be very diilieult, particularly at the inner ends of the teeth such as 13, by reason of the -fact that every other tooth'spaee is simply left vacant. Bv providing one internal tooth for each pair of external teeth each internal tooth is supported at both sides when in full engagement by such pair as shown in Fig. 3, yet when the internal and external teeth are brought together the engagement is rendered easy irrespective of considerable relative speed by reason of the fact that the teeth 13 may enter the comparatively wide space between the adjacent longer teeth, 17a for example, and after the relative rotation of the members such as 3 and 6 has brought the teeth 13 against the longer teeth the sleeve may then be slid with practically no effort into full engagement. Suitable means for sliding the sleeve consists in the provision of rings 20 forming in effect 'a groove, engageable by a shifting fork 21 on a sliding carriage 22 which may be shifted from one position to another by a pivoted lever 25 or other suitable control. This groove is preferably midway between the teeth 11 and,` 13 wherefore, assuming the teeth are thestme length, as

shown, the sleeve may be useiiwith either seti.l

11 or 13, serving as the spline element and either set to selectively pick up the external teeth 15 and 17.

LA further'feature of my invention consists in that the teeth on both ends of the sleeve,

namely the teeth 11 and 13 may be formed 4 at the Same time by easy breaching or milling operations. The teeth 11 are Ithe same distance apart as the teeth13 and on the same pitch diameter. The spline teeth 10 on the shaft 3 being of the same profile and spacing as the teeth 15 and 17, this provides the same tooth relation as illustrated in Fig. 3 to pre.

vent relative movement in either direction between the sleeve and shaft 3.

I claim: Y

1. In a device of the character described, in combination two externally toothed members and a sleeve having two longitudinally separated sets of internal teeth oi substantially identical contour and formed on equal pitch diameters, certain of .the external teeth of each set extending longitudinally past others of the same set, each set of internal teeth on the sleeve being spaced circumfercntially at least twice the distance of the external teeth, and a power transmitting member adapted to slidably envage one set of internal teeth as a spline, whereby such power transmitting member may be selectively connected with the externally toothed members through the other set of internal teeth.

2. A coupling ,device comprising in combination three concentric power transmittin elements, each having a set of external teet formed on the same pitch diameter, and a clutch sleeve having two lon itudinally separated sets of internal teeth su st antially identical in contour and formed on the same pitch diameter, one internal set being adapted to en age one of the concentric elements as a sp ine, whereby this element may be selectively coupled to the other two by means of the other internal set, said sleeve having a groove adapted for engagement by a shipper fork, said groove being centrally located between the sets of internal teeth whereby the sleeve may be reversed end for end without changing the osition of the plane of the groove with re erence to the power transmitting elements. i

3. In a dental clutch coupling for a plurality of concentric rotatable members, external teeth carried byl each concentric member, one set comprising teeth of unequal longitudinal extent in a given direction providmg in effect long and short teeth and a sleeve havin two longitudinally separated sets of identically formed internal teeth on the same pitch diameters, said internal teeth of each set being spaced apart circumferentially wider than two adj aeent'external teeth of the rotatable members for engagement between adjacent teeth of respective external sets, Said sleeve having a groove in a plane transverse to the axis of the sleeve and midway between the sets of internal teeth, said groove being adapted for engagement with a shipper fork.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto aix my signature.

CHARLES E. F. AHLM. 

